Hidden Reflections
by FranzFerdinandLives
Summary: AU. What would happen in the war if the positions were reversed? Could Treize and Zechs lead a rebellion against General Chang Wufei and the ruthless Heero Yuy? Various implied pairings, yaoi and het.
1. Default Chapter

Oh. My. God. It's finally finished!

This is the first multi-part fic I've ever completed, and now, I present it to you! So, bear with me, and have fun! Right, Pairings, 1113, 696, 1R1, and implied 34. This is the first part of a trilogy, the rest of which I have yet to write!

So, here we go!

Hidden Reflections - Mirrorball part 1

Prologue

_The year is AC 193. With high hopes, man abandoned the earth for the colonies, artificial satellites the size of cities. In these, the hardy citizens of outer space sought new life, making themselves the frontier towns of generations to come. Yet tied to the earth they remained. First, by their supply routes, and then, slowly, the United Earthsphere Alliance tightened their grip. The UEA had originally been the United Nations, developing with the times - an organizations whose chief concern was peace and well-being. Yet there then came the UEA army. Add to that the power - hungry businessmen, the Barton foundation, who were major sponsors of the UEA, and soon, they began to crave power. On earth, and in space, the UEA's chokehold fastened. Yet, as always, some still stood for what they believed in. Now, in AC 193, they stand. But they are weak, disorganised. The newest weapon, the mobile suit, belongs to the UEA, as do the communications technology, the money, the highly trained troops. What, then, can these ordinary people do against so organized an institution? What can possibly be done?_

_For the one who wants it enough, everything. _

Chapter 1

"_I love you more with every breath, Truly, Madly, Deeply" _

And indeed, to Treize Kushrenada, it didn't seem that much more complicated at that point. Cradling his fiancée in his arms, smelling the scent of her hair, the world seemed idyllic. Sure, there were those who thought marriage was a bit of a serious step at his age, being a couple of months short of seventeen, but he didn't care. Come to think of it, Leia Barton, his wife-to-be, didn't either. It was just them, and that was it. She put her arms around his waist, ignoring the giggles from her friends, partying behind them. Laughing, Treize held her even tighter, and swung her to the salsa beat as it pounded over the speakers. They stepped, dancing perfectly in time. The group of single dancers moved out of their way, as the pair salsa danced as though they were one. Leia's eyes sparkled as never before, and Treize felt the familiar jolt in his stomach as he realised all over again that he loved her, pulling her close as the beat stopped. A slower love song came on. Kissing her neck lightly, he placed his hands on her hips.

"_I wanna stand with you on a mountain, I wanna bathe with you in the sea, I wanna live like this forever, until the sky falls down on me..."_

"May I have the last dance?" he smiled.

"Naturally, sir." They drifted together, just content to be close.

"You're quiet tonight." she remarked.

"I-I just love you, Leia." he sighed, resting his head against her bright red hair.

"Treize" she raised an eyebrow at him. "I love you and all, but even you can't fool a concerned fiancée!" He laughed at that.

"I know, it's just it was about this time last year that Milliardo died..." Treize sighed a little as he remembered his childhood friend. Having both been born into nobility, they had hit it off the first time they had met, and had been almost inseparable since then, the classic double act. But only last year, in the escalating civil war between the United Earthsphere Alliance regime and the rebel forces, King Peacecraft, Milliardo's father, had spoken out in favour of his ideal of true peace, a stance which many did not regard as welcome. His refusal to step down eventually led to his assassination-and the massacre of his whole family, including Prince Milliardo.

"He would have wanted you to be happy." Leia guessed immediately at his line of thought.

"I know." Treize was still distant. As a last resort, Leia subtly shifted her hands from his hips onto his buttocks.

"Hey! Hands off that!" cried Treize, acting outraged.

"Shut up, Kushrenada, you know you love it!" She chuckled. Any reply Treize would have made to that was prevented by a sudden ear-shattering explosion which took the glass out of the hall. The couple hugged together, but beyond the shattered glass, a sudden and raging battle could be seen above the sculpted rooftops of St. Petersburg.

"Rebel forces, sector D, ten o'clock!" came the yell from the advancing Alliance troops. Another platoon burst in, demanding man to help. Treize gazed back at them.

"Treize Kushrenada, don't you dare!" warned Leia.

"I wasn't going to." He turned back to her and Leia sighed, relieved, yet it was short lived, as a rough hand was clapped on Treize's shoulder.

"You! Move along! We need everyone we can get!"

"Treize!" Leia grabbed his arm. "Don't leave me!" He looked in agony between Leia and the sergeant who had accosted him. Yet if the sergeant had ever loved, he did not show it then.

"Come on! We have no time to waste!"

"I'll come back to you." He clasped his hand in hers, biting back desperate tears.

"You promise?" she asked, her tears running freely.

"I promise." She fitted a little silver locket, containing pictures of both of them in happier times, around his neck. He leaned down to kiss her good-bye, and tasted the salty liquid of her tears, jerking his from beneath his eyelids. Without saying anything further, he walked out with the rest of the makeshift platoon, and the night swallowed him.

Treize ran, keeping up easily with the ranks of "volunteers".

"Rifle each!" came the call ahead, as two huge supply trucks came into sight ahead. Treize caught his, noting with sudden disgust and unease that they were ancient and outdated relics, nothing like the laser precision sniper rifles he was used to.

"We're supposed to fight with this?" asked a disgusted comrade next to him.

"Hey, if we die, I guess some ancient ghostly general will be glad to have his gun back." Smiled Treize sardonically.

"True enough!" laughed the man next to him.

"No talking back there!" spat a vicious looking officer in front of them. Treize snorted derisively, and the company ran on. A sudden, close explosion momentarily halted their progress.

"No!" screamed a young man, turning to run back, towards the bombsite.

"You there!" barked the officer. "Get back here!" he raised his pistol, and the youth turned back, a look of utter terror and anguish flooding his eyes. A star of blood blossomed on his forehead, and his skull snapped backwards. The officer had fired.

"Colonel Bunt." went the murmur through the ranks. "Asshole." added the guy next to him, and Treize nodded vehemently, the expression on the young man's face engraved on his mind. They ran on, and the pace took its toll on even Treize. It was almost with the sharpness of an explosion that they stopped about five minutes later. Colonel Bundt peered down his nose at them.

"The enemy ranks are around this corner. You will charge at them and attempt to gain their positions. Any retreating" he gave an especially harsh glare at this point "will be shot. On my call." Treize felt the adrenaline begin to pump, as his knuckled tightened around his antiquated gun. This was suicide, and they all knew it. _Oh Leia, I'm sorry..._

"Charge!" Treize sprinted around the corner, among the first to go-and ran straight into hell. Bullets zoomed past, white-hot hail, but still he ran on. A grenade detonated on his left and sent him sprawling, but somehow, he managed to hold onto his weapon aware nonetheless that he was in a lot of pain. He rolled onto his stomach, and aimed slowly, picking off one advancing soldier at a time, disgusted and sickened by his own lack of emotion.

"Retreat!" Came the yell from some soldiers, and Treize heard the fatal gunshots of Bundt's weapon silencing them. Then, above all the noise, the click-click of officer's field boots, and he knew Bundt had abandoned them. _Typical, really._ Treize lay still in the sudden lull in the fighting, not daring to reveal his position. There seemed to be a sudden flurry of panic, and all he could see dived for cover. Then the world was turned upside down and the sky turned black.

He awoke shortly afterwards, and the sky was now black with acrid smoke. Rolling over and wincing at the stings her received, he tried to piece together what had happened. Bundt had left...there was panic, and then...Good God, they had retreated and blown up St. Petersburg in the process! _Leia!_

Regardless of the danger he could have been in, Treize got up and ran as fast as possible back towards the dance hall. Through the flame and smoke, terrible dread welled up on him. Running through the streets, he could see that the city was in ruins around him. Nothing of it's centuries-old beauty remained. Yet when he rounded the corner, all this was put from his mind.

The dance hall was in ruins. It was completely flat.

"No.." he breathed. He ran around, climbing through the rubble, digging, calling Leia's name. And then he saw her. She was lying on her back, in the little backyard of the hall. Her eyes were closed, and the expression on her face was one of serenity. It looked as if she was peacefully sleeping, if it were not for the jagged tears in her chest where the shrapnel had ploughed into her. Treize looked disbelieving, and then dropped to his knees beside her and sobbed.

"Leia, oh, Leia." He stroked her hair and called her name in vain, for there was no pulse at her wrist or neck, and her skin was cold, her limbs stiff. She had been dead several hours. "My god, I love you." he whispered in the dead girl's ear, laying her hand across her bloodied chest. "I love you, Leia." He remained awhile, crying, loving. Yet slowly, the tears dried, and slowly yet irreversibly, ice-hot fury flowed in their place.

He got up, and walked away from Leia. He walked as if in a dream, but with a terrible knowledge that this was reality. Aimlessly wandering, he came upon a square, where three remaining alliance officers were beating up a captured rebel. _Prey._ He thought, with a sadistic little smile. He ducked down behind a burnt out car, automatically assessing the situation. His eyes caught on a rifle lying next to the car. It was high-calibre, and fitted with a high-accuracy silencer, so shots would not be affected. _Perfect._ Sadism again. To conceal his position, he crawled beneath the truck, and took aim. One officer raised his truncheon to hit the rebel on the floor. As the wood impacted with the flesh, Treize pulled the trigger, killing one officer who stood on the outskirts of the group, the rebel's cry making the spat of gunfire, he fell, unnoticed by the others. The officer raised his baton again. The cry masked the death of the second officer, who had been holding the rebel's legs down. Raising his weapon again, the last officer had a look of manic pleasure on his face. _Oh no you don't!_ Treize pulled the trigger once more, filled with a savage victory. Standing up, he took a few steps toward the rebel soldier, who, flinching as he did so, stood himself. Something vaguely familiar hung about the rebel, and the other seemed to reciprocate, as he reached out to touch Treize. Treize tried to move his arm too, but found he did not have the strength, and the world spun, fading slowly to black as he passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

Well, here's part two. Someone review this time, please!

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, etc., etc., and the lyrics in chapter 1 were _Truly Madly Deeply _by Savage Garden.

Chapter 2

Light streamed in through the billowing pale yellow curtains, and the cool breeze wafted over the face of a four-banged young man, lying, eyes closed on the white linen bed. His eyes flickered open, registering themselves a moment. _I'm alive._ Thought Treize. Moving was painful, and he noticed several gauzes and bandages on his body. _Well, I still have my underwear, and that's a relief._ he thought.

"You're alive!" a young woman about his own age walked in, her short purple hair bobbing.

"When I last checked, anyway." he replied, trying to smile and wince at the same time. It didn't work.

"Why did you save me, anyhow?"

"You'd better ask the guy who did." She handed him a pair of jeans and a shirt. "He's out on the porch." Dressing, Treize mused over the past night. Leia's body in the yard was a distant dream, and one he pushed to the back of his mind at that point. Walking, out, he saw the rebel he had rescued standing with his back to him.

"So you're up." The man turned, smiling, and a pair of frighteningly familiar blue eyes, framed by platinum blonde bangs met his. His hair fell to his waist-the platinum blonde hair of none other than;

"_Milliardo! Oh my God!_" Gasping and laughing, Treize stared at his old, and presumed dead friend, who also stood laughing.

"Great to see you again Treize." Smiled Milliardo.

"But-but-they said-said you were dead..." Treize still had a problem dealing with it. "Killed by rebel soldiers..." The smile on Milliardo's face slipped a little.

"No, not by rebels. It was alliance forces that killed the Peacecrafts. At any rate, Milliardo is dead, and it'll stay that way for a while. I'm Zechs Marquise now."

"Zechs, huh?" Treize raised a playful eyebrow. "Did you consider exactly how much fun I could have with that name?" Zechs groaned, but retaliation was cut short by;

"TREIZE!" A small, twelve-year-old, golden-blonde furball cannoned into Treize's midriff.

"Relena?" delighted, Treize hugged her back. "Long time no see, sweetheart!"

"I was supposed to be dead!" she giggled. "You don't usually see dead people!"

"Hey, don't tell me you've got a new name?" Treize grinned wickedly at Zechs. "It's not Gigolo, or something?" Relena tutted at him.

"No, I'm still Relena. Besides, Gigolos are male."

"How do you know-?!"

"Hey, fluffball, buzz off a minute willya?" Zechs ruffled her hair. In retaliation she jabbed his ribs, waved goodbye to Treize and ran inside. Both boys smiled after her, but then Zechs's face fell serious, and he looked Treize in the eye.

"Treize" his voice was quiet, sombre. "We found Leia." A sickening jolt rocked Treize's stomach.

"How was she?" his voice was tremulous. "Was there any hope...?"

"I'm so sorry, Treize. She had been dead hours before we got there." Treize turned away, nodding. He stared out at the sunny fields, the void inside filling up slowly with bitter tears, until they overflowed, silently, smoothly over his face. Silently, Zechs rested his hand on Treize's shoulder, but when he saw the tear tracks glistening on his face, he stepped forward and hugged his friend properly, letting him weep into his shoulder. So they stood, two men, old friends, one weeping for a lost love, the other aching for a lost family.

"Is this normal?" Noin, the purple haired woman, looked anxious.

"Absolutely not." Zechs looked worried also. It had been two weeks since Treize had woken up, and he had spent most of his time alone, sometimes crying, sometimes dry-eyed, but always clutching the silver locket Leia had given him. It broke Zechs' heart to see his once lively friend morose, staring out into the sky beyond the suburban safehouse.

"Yeah, I remember you telling me he was always happy and sarcastic." Noin frowned. "If it's possible to be both at the same time."

"Mmmm, he was even snerky first thing in the morning." Zechs smiled sentimentally.

"You would have been too," eyes no longer red, Treize leant casually in the doorway, the locket still glistening on his neck. "If, through five years of boarding school, and you hadn't one decent night's sleep during term time because the boy you shared with snored like a wild boar all night!"

"Yeah?" Retaliated Zechs. "You're the one who doesn't even shut up in his sleep! Mmmermnnn CUCUMBER! Hnnrmmf!"

"Well you yell louder than me. Remember when you got suspended from the old oak tree by the back of your trousers?" As the banter went back and forth, Noin chuckled to herself.

"So this is normal, huh?" Rolling her eyes at the two boys, she got up to leave. "God help us!"

The intensifying early morning light began to sting Treize's eyes. He, Relena, Noin and Zechs had left the safehouse an hour before dawn, and driven through the mountains that made the Central Uplands, and past all of the winding mountain paths to the outskirts of a large wood, courtesy of a Mitsubishi jeep Noin had found "just lying around". For the past hour, they had been walking on the outskirts of the forest, watching the sky go from grey to peach and to pink, as it was then. The small excitement Treize had felt at being told they were going to the rebel base was beginning to wear off as he realised how tired he was. At that point, his private grousing was cut short, as Zechs drew to a halt.

"Here we are!" he said cheerily. Looking around, Treize had a little difficulty in defining exactly where "here" was. They had walked about five hundred metres into the dense forest, and all he could see was trees. However, Zechs had turned to the tree directly above him, and sang softly

"There was a rich man from Nottingham." A moment's silence, and then an answering voice from way up in the canopy sang

"Who went to cross the river"

"What a dope he tripped on a rope!" Noin this time.

"And now look at him shiver!" Relena finished off the limerick with a flourish, and with the final note, a rope ladder tumbled down the trunk above them.

"After you." courteously, Zechs let Noin and Relena climb first. He then took hold of the ladder, signaling to Treize to follow him. Climbing was quite tiring, and as the tree was at least forty feet tall, his arms began to ache. Reaching the top was worth it though. As he stepped up onto the platform of planks, Treize looked out over the whole forest, and the fired scarlet dawn, feeling really awed and happy for the first time since the night in St. Petersburg.

"Welcome to our home." smiled Zechs, and beckoned him over a long, camouflaged walkway that moved from tree to tree like a great wooden snake. Eventually, there was a zip-line that led down to the forest floor again.

"There's also a rope ladder." Noin explained. "But that's not half as fun." When they did reach the ground, Treize noticed a large dip in it. Trees still grew on it, but there was definitely something artificial about it. _Probably the manhole covers which give it away. _Snickered Treize silently, and it was down one of these manhole covers he went, sliding down a fireman's pole a couple of metres, and then stepping out into the white light of the underground chambers. He gasped aloud.

The walls and ceilings of the base were white and shiny new, except for the very top of the ceiling, through which some tree roots penetrated. The main hall was vast, but low in height, doors leading in all direction, labeled from "living quarters" to "kitchens" to "situation rooms". It was also surprisingly void of people.

"The last couple of attacks have left us short of men." commented Zechs. "Most are either in the infirmary or still out in the field though. We do have a larger force than this."

"So you're back, Zechs." An old man in a Hawaiian shirt leant over the railings of the floor above them.

"As always, Howard. Good to see you." he replied.

"Treize! What a pleasant surprise!" Howard was joined at the railings by another bearded old man, this time one Treize knew.

"Uncle Dermail!" grinning up at him, Treize was speechless for once in his life. Another twelve-year-old head bobbed up beside Dermail's.

"Hey Relena! and Treize!" the little white-blonde girl giggled.

"Dorothy? Hell, this is becoming a family reunion!" He laughed. "Talking of which, how are mom and dad? Are they here?"

"Nope." Dermail shook his head. "They didn't approve."

"Figures." nodded Treize. "And now, when we've finished reminiscing, can I get a tour of this place?"


	3. Chapter 3

Okay...haven't uploaded for ages...ah well. The usual disclaimers apply, I don't own Gundam Wing, etc., etc. Thank you to Lady Deathstrike for being my first reviewer! And Une is in this chapter!

Chapter 3

He was led around the impressive rebel base by a very enthusiastic Howard. He was shown the situation room and the operations room, both fitted with very sophisticated GPS and computer technology. He was shown his room (shared with Zechs, to both their pleasure and utter annoyance), and then Noin took over to show him the MS hangars.

"Each one of these suits are my pride and joy." Indeed, as she said it, she looked very proud. " I supervised these suits. And the other weapons, but no so much." She would have gone on, if it weren't for a sudden announcement from Dorothy's voice over the speaker system.

"Incoming, Incoming! Une's section entering by point zero-five-three. Incoming!" They started towards the hangar door, and they could already hear the tumult of a large group of people entering the main chamber. A woman was standing among a group of fifty rebel soldiers, and a whole flock of civilians.

"Une!" Noin ran up to her, and the two exchanged a hug. "What happened? Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." the woman addressed looked around. "We lost eight men though, and these civilians are ones who have been burned and beaten out of their homes because they were suspected rebels." Treize could only watch as other rebels came from storerooms, and directed the confused women and children to places of further comfort. However, in the midst of all the panic, Noin saw a small, lost looking blonde boy of about Relena's age standing among the soldiers.

"QUATRE!" She cried out, and he, looking up at her, emitted a small, frightened little sob and flung his arms around her waist. No sooner had he buried his face in her midriff that the whimperings ceased and he sagged, instantly asleep.

"Poor little kid." Une looked about ready to cry. "We found him with the murdered bodies of his father and one of his sisters. Her name tag said Irea."

"Irea and Mr. Winner are dead?" Noin hugged the sleeping form of Quatre closer to her. "Oh, poor honey!"

"He hasn't spoken or slept for the past two days because of it." Although her voice was solemn, Une's eyes blazed with anger.

"Oh, Poor Quatre. I know his family, they're great people, Irea was a friend from Primary school." Her voice sunk to a whisper, Noin picked Quatre up and turned to leave.

"Here, I'll carry him." chivalrous as ever, Treize stepped forward.

"Thanks. Oh, wait, you haven't met Une, have you?" Noin introduced them. "Treize Kushrenada, this is Lady Une. Une, Treize."

"Hey." Une inclined her head.

"Hiya." Treize smiled, holding his arms out as Noin gave Quatre's feather-light frame to him. In silence they walked, placing Quatre in Noin's bed, where she sat to look over him.

"Welcome to the war." proclaimed Une bitterly, looking at Quatre's finally peaceful face. However, Treize said nothing, staring only into the distance.

Over the next week, regiments, most carrying wounded or missing men altogether, continued to pour into the base, and still Quatre said nothing. He gained an appetite, slept, and would smile occasionally, but he did not speak. On Friday, when each of the twenty sections had regrouped, a strategy meeting was called. Treize, as well as Une, Noin, Zechs, and a number of others he didn't know, gathered in the operations room, the less dramatic sibling of the situation room, and gathered around the centre, where Howard and Dermail stood, looking oddly out of place in their Hawaiian shirts.

"All operations back, and we have lost one hundred and eighteen men in total." Dermail started off briskly. "Personally, I thought casualties would be higher, but we are still down fifteen percent. We also have another eighty-three men injured, which takes us down to just eighty percent of our strength." Dermail gazed out at the gathered leaders. "The time has come, Ladies and Gentlemen, to decide where we go from here." Silence reigned. As the main operations base for the whole international rebel network, it had suddenly hit all of them that whatever was decided now, would rule the fate of men for years to come.

"Maybe we should carry out small skirmishes." suggested one man in the corner. "We don't have the strength, or the capabilities for much else, but we can keep them on their toes."

"Not that there's much point in that anymore." said Une glumly. "The public would only suffer because of us."

"Maybe not much is worth anything anymore." This time from Noin. "But, we could use the mobile suits in skirmish operations. This would-"

"Is that it?" Treize's voice was low, his eyes downcast, but everyone heard him.

"What-what do you mean?" Dermail looked confused.

"What I said." Treize looked back, his eyes almost disturbingly penetrating. "Is this it? There are over ten thousand soldiers in the United Earthspere Alliance's mobile suit units alone. What can seven hundred-odd hope to do against that force?" Silence reigned, each rebel affronted, but knowing the truth in his words.

"What we can" replied Howard, gravely.

"But it's a losing battle." Treize looked up again, inspired. "Start something...there are so many people, there's got to be...what I mean is that there are over twenty billion people in this earthsphere, most of whom dislike the alliance - how come you've only got seven hundred of them?"

"So what do you suggest we do about it?." Une asked.

"Obtain allies. Merge with other rebel groups. Be something worth reckoning with. Defend the local people. Make sure that they hide you because they love you, not just for their hatred of the alliance. Unite everyone behind a figurehead, someone inspirational, like-like a saint, almost!" Treize stood, in full swing, unaware his voice had risen.

"And for God's sake, give your men hope! They need to believe they can do something! Lie low, give them time to recuperate, keep the UEA off your back. Rally them around you and your figurehead. Keep their spirits up. Make the monty python song-the bright side of life-a compulsory song if you have to. Keep them alive, and while so doing, lull the Alliance into a false sense of security." Treize stopped, his eyes glittering inspiration.

"And then?" smiled Zechs, although he had no need to ask-he knew what was next.

"Then, you go to war." he said, a strange smile on his face.

"So, will you fight with us Treize?" Just realizing everyone was looking at him, Treize turned to reply to his friend.

"Yes." was the simple answer.

"I want to fight, too." A small, wavering, but determined voice came from the back. Quatre stood, having entered so silently no one had heard. "I can't shoot, like Ms Une and Ms Noin, or make speeches like Zechs and Treize, but I want to fight too, if only to repay you." Gathering himself up, Quatre set his jaw.

"You owe us nothing, Quatre." smiled Noin

"The I will fight for my father and my sister." he said, not to be dissuaded. "I don't know how-no, wait! I can cook! It may not be the most valuable of skills, but I can." Zechs laughed, although kindly and not in spite.

"I would be glad to have you as one of my men." placing one hand on his shoulder, Zechs looked down at him.

"Then it is settled." Dermail looked pleased. "We have a cook and a master strategist joining us." Treize blushed slightly at the compliment.

"So," asked Zechs. "How do we go about cheering the troops up?"

"I think" replied Treize, after a moment's deliberation "It would be good to have two figureheads. It's kind of a symbol of unity, if there's two people. They need to be people like the rest of the soldiers. Of course, they have to fight, but...they have to be approachable...you know...ordinary."

"Yeah, I get it!" Zechs nodded, enthusistic. "Someone who can make speeches, but yet make everybody laugh as well." Lost as they were in their train of thought, it took a moment for the pair to notice everyone was looking at them.

"Wha-you mean us?" Zechs looked incredulous.

"Nah, really, I was thinking of someone more like Howard, or Noin, or" Treize stalled.

"Cheers for the comparison." Noin commented, drily. "But for someone with a nickname of "Big mouth Kushrenada", you're suprisingly authority shy."

"Yeah, but, I- I mean, look at us..."

"He's right, you know, I mean, we're just...surfers, you know...we couldn't possibly make speeches...and stuff."

"That's funny, I thought you just made one." Une began to giggle.

"I say we vote." Knowing full well the outcome, Howard took control. "All those against?"

Zechs and Treize's hands flew instantly up, only to sag a little when they realised they had no support.

"For?" Everyone else rainsed a hand. "So, it's settled."

"Well," Zechs shrugged, "we always said you'd earn a living for talking one day." Considering, Treize reflected that it probably wasn't all that bad. It might actually be fun....

_Over the next two years, it grew. From the simple gathering of people in that operations room, it became something ten times bigger. Wires grew, lengthened-a communications system that spanned the entire earth and some of space. The base grew. The seven hundred became a thousand, and the thousand two thousand, and the two thousand ten. And those ten thousand were linked via miles of communications to other thousands, and other technology. And so, now, in AC 195, it has grown. Two-hundred-thousand people are rallied behind Treize Kushrenada and Zechs Marquise, all bearing the same emblem; URA, the United Rebel Army. _

_This war has begun! _


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, standard disclaimers apply – in fact, if I got rich and _did_ happen to own Gundam Wing, would I be writing fanfiction? No. I'd be making another series.

Chapter 4

_Two years later..._

Lieutenant Colonel Trowa Barton surveyed the scene pensively. The other two members of General Chang's division had pulled out a while ago, taking their patrols with them. Now he remained, looking at the smoking and vanquished rebel base. It had turned out to be a decoy, just an old relic full of outdated machinery, which emitted odd radio waves.

"Lieutenant-Colonel, sir?" Cathy Bloom, Trowa's half-sister and subordinate, requested his attention. "Shouldn't we be heading back now? Generals J and Septem have organised that party tonight, sir, and you are supposed to be present."

"All right, Cathy, we'll go." Trowa tore himself away from the wreckage and the silent, strange shapes of the forest surrounding it. "I'm just unsettled, is all. It's quiet...too quiet."

Unbeknownst to Trowa, he and his division had been observed from the foliage nearby, and their every word listened in on. Une laughed, packed up the camera and radio, and turned to leave.

"Quiet, Mr. Barton?" She smiled. " Well, not for long!"

After returning from the base, and leaving his MS to the hangar attendants, Trowa walked into the officer's bar, and sat down, staring at the chipped table in front of him. The bar was almost empty, except for a group of card players over in the corner. Among these was Lieutenant Colonel Duo Maxwell, evidently winning from the pile of coins in front of his hand. He looked over at Trowa and flashed his mandatory grin, before turning back to the game and raising the stakes. Responding with a small wave, Trowa remained lost in thought. There was a reason this place was so empty...but it couldn't have been that important, as he'd forgotten it. No, what was really disturbing him was the lack of rebel activity. It had died down when he was an officer, under the then Major Chang. Odd things had occurred from time to time, enough to allow Trowa's rapid promotion up to Lieutenant Colonel through his prowess in the MS, but it was somehow not enough. Something had to happen soon...but what it was going to be- Trowa's reverie was suddenly broken by the dissolution of the card game. Duo swept the money into his pocket and laughed off the grudging insults and praise of the other players, before making his way over to Trowa's table.

"Yo."

"Hey."

"So, what's up?" It wasn't just a standard greeting. Both soldiers, they both knew when something was bothering another. Raised under the same regime, it was also highly likely they would be bothered about the same thing.

"That rebel base...the decoy..."

"Yeah, it stank, didn't it?" Duo agreed. "Something wasn't right there."

"Mmmm. It's been far too quiet recently. It doesn't add up, what with Schliebecker..." He noticed Duo's brow furrow further and winced. Officer Hilde Schliebecker has disappeared a month ago, around the location of the decoy base, and had been presumed dead. But now there was no base, her vanishing had a positively strange hint to it. Silence reigned a little longer.

"Well, we gotta go." Duo stood up and stretched.

"Huh?" Trowa looked up, a little confused.

"Yeah, the ball, right? The celebration of the new model Leo?" Trowa groaned.

"I knew I'd forgotten something. Well, duty calls."

Lieutenant Colonel Heero Yuy of the Alliance picked a glass of pink champagne off a waiter's tray. Viewing the scenes of the ball through his wild bangs, he sighed. The Leo MS was the most sophisticated yet, and so Commander J was evidently justified in this huge party to show it off. Couples waltzed on the floor, and the aristocracy kept up appearances, gathered in groups of false laughter. Being an orphan and a man of the colonies, Heero viewed the political processes of the ball with a disinterest that bordered on distaste. He knew, with the arrogance of a soldier, that he could have any woman he wanted in the room, but at the same time, wished for none of them. Relationships were not something that he had the time or care for as a mobile suit company leader beneath General Chang. Indeed, some of the men had very fine mistresses indeed, as did the Commander Septem, General J's second in command. Instead, Heero preferred the company of his fellow pilots, Lieutenant Colonels Maxwell and Barton, or failing that, his Aries. He sighed again, and limited his world to the marble pillar behind his back and the champagne in his hand.

An altogether different pair looked in on the ball from the vantage point of the roof. Both wore night fatigues and bore the emblems of the United Rebel Army.

"So what do you think?" The speaker was a Honey-haired girl of about fifteen.

"Plan A sound good?" the companion was a long-haired youth of nineteen.

"Smash and Grab?" she grinned back. Smiling in reply, he touched his earpiece.

"Ops, do you read? This is Zechs and Relena. Ops, come in."

"This is Dorothy. Got you loud and clear, Zechs. How's it going up there?" A female voice crackled over the radio.

"Plan A. We need secure routes through the compound to the eastern runway, where Une and Noin should be waiting."

"Yep, no probs with that. Anything else?"

"Yeah, are A and M in place?" interjected Relena.

"They are. Ops are a-go when you're ready."

"Then let's go." Relena flipped the anti-flash element of her night vision goggles down.

"Commencing in five, four, three, two, one..."and with sudden, efficient fluency, all the lights in the alliance compound went off.

"GO!" hissed Zechs, and Relena threw herself at the skylight three feet to the left. Just before she hit, Zechs pushed a small remote, and the skylight swung open. An extendible nylon cord caught her before she silently lowered herself to the ground. She flipped on the green night vision element of her goggles, and crept silently around the ranks of startled Ladies, Gentlemen and confused guards. She saw the digital blueprints of the Leo on display at the head of the hall.

As a result of the darkness and the anxious chatter of all the party, no one heard the footsteps of a girl in night fatigues, saw her whip away with the Leo blueprints, or heard her giggle to herself at how easy it had been. In fact, no one knew anything had happened until fifteen minutes later, when light was returned to the compound and the blueprints were found to be missing. The flurry had everyone else rushing to find the dark-shrouded person who had taken them, but no-one knew that the thief and her accomplice had left the compound by means of a stolen jeep driven by a MS pilot and car thief by the name Lucretzia Noin, and her companion, Lady Une. All this happened exactly twelve minutes later. Relena touched her earpiece again.

"Mission accomplished, Dorothy."

"Great! Everyone there?" they could hear Dorothy's pleasure over the radio waves.

"Yes, unless the two stooges were supposed to come with us."

"No, they have a different route out with the more, um, sensitive item." there was a snicker in Dorothy's words.

"Okay, ETA at base thirty minutes, the way Noin drives." In reply, the purple haired-woman in the driving seat put on an extra spurt of speed.

"Mmmm, Mitsubishi Montero. Four wheel drive, 0-60 in ten seconds, and one HELL of a turbo engine. God, I love these cars!"

The chaos in the alliance base began to die down, and as it did, every troop on duty began to realise he was in for the bollocking of his life. It didn't help that the person delivering that bollocking was going to be none other than Colonel Sally Po, the infamous deputy of General Chang.

"FOOLS!" She snarled. "Utter imbeciles! I thought you were men, not worthless pieces of SHIT! You let the enemy get away before your flea-infested heads had worked out that something had gone WRONG!" She paced up and down, her lip curling. "Now I want every man on this base, and I don't care what your other orders were, to track those REBELS! I don't care if you have to sniff the fuckers out yourselves, I want-"

"Colonel." A voice came from the shadows. "That will do." General Chang, a contemptous smile on his face, stepped forward and surveyed the men. "Go back to whatever you were doing." The troops disappeared almost magically, very unwilling to stay another moment in the presence of either officer.

"But Sir, I was-"

"I understand your actions, Sally...but I am far more interested in what these rebels intend to do with those Leo plans." Surveying the night horizon, he snorted. "As if a new MS could make people like them strong." He stared at the shimmering stars a little longer and then turned back towards the building and the ball. "Come, Sally, there is still champagne left. Only tomorrow can we see tonight's consequences."

When they arrived back at the MS hangars of the rebel base, Howard was there to meet them.

"Do you have the disks?" his voice was hopeful, not seeming to want to believe what Dorothy had said for fear of disappointment.

"Why, naturally." Relena held the briefcase of information up, and Howard had to restrain himself from hugging her. However, when they reached the Operations room, Dorothy used no such restraint. The two friends hugged, squealing and betraying their age.

"We did it!" Dorothy crowed finally. "You got the disks and the stooges managed to-" however, Dorothy's report was cut short by the very two she had been talking about. "Speak of the devil." she finished under her breath.

"Rebel Alex reporting for duty." barked the blonde soldier, and Zechs subtly rolled his eyes at the leftover technique of the alliance army. The other soldier saluted also, dropping his heavy sacked load, which emitted a small yelp.

"We successfully captured Lieutenant Colonel Heero Yuy!" barked Rebel Mueller. Then, with a slightly vicious smile, he tipped the contents of the sack onto the floor. Out tumbled a very disheveled, tired and confused....

...Lieutenant Colonel Duo Maxwell.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Silence reigned in the room, and in the hush of voices the dull, muted crack of Relena's knuckles could be heard - presumably as she balled her fists to prevent herself from wrapping her hands around the necks of Alex and Mueller. A couple of minutes later, when she could trust herself to speak again, Relena said; "This isn't Heero Yuy." the statement was simple, but spoken with such force everyone quailed.

"We, um, thought it was." ventured Alex tentatively.

"Didn't you see the foot long braid?" Relena's voice rose a little above the murmur it had been.

"It was dark.." Mueller tried to be arrogant but was cut short but a withering glare.

"Get out." the voice was still low, but the look in her eyes made both Alex and Mueller dash for the operation room's heavy chrome door and get safely on the other side of it.

"Aaaahh" she groaned. "I need some sleep."

"Same here." sighed Zechs. "But not before we sort out their complete cock-up."

"HEY!" the yell prevented any further discussion, and it came from Duo who was still sat where he had been dumped. "Would anyone mind telling me just what the hell is going on?"

"Sorry about that." Relena began. "Well, you see, this is the headquarters of the United Rebel Army and you are supposed to be Heero Yuy." Duo blinked and shook his head.

"Still not getting it."

"Well, we were going to capture Heero Yuy. However, it seems like those two" she gave an acid look at the door "have messed it up a bit. However" this time, she let a wicked smile curve her lips "You could be just as useful."

_I don't like the sound of this..._ Duo thought, mentally gulping, but instead, he climbed to his feet and looked defiantly at Zechs, Dorothy and Relena.

"I don't know what you're going to do with me, but you won't get anything out of me." He gave them an icy look, the effect of which was a little spoiled by a little giggle from Dorothy. She then pulled a straight face, arched a newly-plucked eyebrow, and replied

"What we want from you may not be entirely what you expect, Mr Maxwell." she said this in a low and somewhat husky voice, pouting a little as she batted her eyelids at him. All this had the effect of scaring Duo thouroughly, making Zechs shake his head and smile, and Relena gulp to swallow her laughter.

"Um, Zechs." Relena gasped silently at the pain in her stomach. "Would you mind giving." She cut off and turned to let out silent giggles. "Mr Maxwell a tour of the place? Thank you." With that, she and Dorothy walked with as much dignity as possible out of the room, and Zechs and Duo heard echoing laughter in the corridor as the door closed. Zechs shook his head and laughed quietly to himself.

"What's funny?" snapped Duo, more unnerved then angry.

"That would be my sister." he smiled. "Anyway, my name is Zechs Marquise, and for the moment, I shall be your guide for the tour around the URA headquarters."

"Huh?" Duo looked at him. "You're _the_ Zechs Marquise?"

"The one and only, limited edition, so touch me while you can." he grinned back. "What's up? don't I fit the description?"

"I-just figured you'd be older...more serious." Duo scratched the back of his head.

"Figured the same about you." shrugged Zechs. "Though you could do with lightening up a bit. Don't worry about Dorothy, she was only teasing."

"Oh, right." Sagging, Duo tried not to sound too pleased. "Anyway, that guided tour."

"Of course" Zechs gave a sweeping bow. Duo was then led into the main atrium, as the sun was beginning to seep through a hatchway left open.

"Hey, Zechs? What's the time?" he asked, fighting back a yawn.

"Hn. Five thirty in the morning." Zechs gazed at his watch. " This rebel centre will fully awake in five...four...three...two...one..."

"Good morning, this is the BBC World service." A voice boomed over the loudspeakers sounding every inch like someone holding their nose and faking a British accent. Duo winced, and Zechs simply stood nonchalantly leaning against the pillar. The voice continued. "You wish. This is your resident DJ and it is time to GET OUT OF BED! For those of you who don't believe the official spin on this, that it is morale boosting, and those who believe I took this job just beacause I love pissing people off, I just want you to know....that you're totally right. And for those of you who complain you're tired, do I look like I care. GET UP! Now, we'll take it nice and slow, with Incubus, Wish you were here." the song opened, suiting the early morning sunrise perfectly.

"Who is that guy?" asked Duo, half annoyed, half admiring.

"My best friend." Zechs smiled. "C'mon, I'll introduce you."

"I-I wish you were heeeeeeereeeee!." The DJ sang to himself, as the song ended and he searched for another to put on. "Right, that three seconds silence was an interview with alliance pilot Trowa Barton, and here as our next guest, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have an exclusive with-" he gasped in mock amazement "-Commander J! So, Mr J, how are you doing?" He hunched over the microphone, and replied in a wonderfully creepy voice "Aaah, young Skywalker, you have developed well..." "Ah, I'm not Luke-" "Yes, yes, you have a strong spirit...Luke, join the dark side! Yahahahahaha!"

"Ooooookaaaay." the DJ resumed his old voice. "And on the subject of basket cases, here's some Greenday for ya!" International Superhits began to play, and Zechs walked in to the studio.

"Mornin'!" He sat next to his friend. "Hey, this is Duo Maxwell." At the DJ's raised eyebrow, Zechs added. "The stooges screwed up."

"Ah." he replied, nodding sagely. "Hey anyway, I'm Treize Kushrenada." Duo gave no pretence of restraint. His jaw fell, and he goggled.

"You?" he asked. "You're Treize Kushrenada? The master strategist?" Treize laughed outright at Duo's incredulity.

"Yep. But hush a moment." Treize flipped the mike back on. "Don't panic, everybody! I'm almost off the air. Just another couple of songs, and here's one from one of my all time favourites, Nickelback." A rough rock song began to play (A/N-for rough Nickelback, listen to Curb). "Uh, Duo, you can shut your mouth now." Realising his jaw was still dangerously close to the floor, Duo shut it and apologized, beginning to flush at the same time. Treize turned one last time to the mike.

"Okay, I'm off the air until four. Why? Because I have to be! This is the army, not a Butlin's! (A/N-Private joke)Now, sit up straight, polish your shoes and pull that hand out of your pants! And good morning to you!" He put on an Offspring song, and turned to leave.

"So you've met Alex and Mueller?" Treize raised a forked eyebrow. "A more bloodyminded pair you won't find, but they do have a certain determination to finish their missions, even if Mueller does look like the North end of a southbound camel." He finished with a snicker, which was joined by Zechs. "So, what're you two up to at this point?" Treize walked out of the studio with them, his DJ-ing duties finished for that morning.

"Well, I was giving Mr Maxwell a tour of the facilities." explained Zechs.

"Does it include the weapons room?" asked Duo shrewdly. The two long-time pranksters looked at him.

"Nice try, Maxwell, but no." Treize brightened suddenly. "But we can visit the kitchens!"

"Yeah, the head cook's a guy called Quatre. As long as he's not cooking anything else, he'll always have time to cook you your own personal pancake." Pausing, Zechs aimed a nasty grin at Treize. "But he's not talking to big-mouth Kushrenada here 'cause yesterday Treize made fun of him on the air." Glaring, Treize pretended to sulk, causing Zechs to snigger even harder to himself. Duo couldn't help but giggle at the man's pout, which took nearly ten years off his age, and made him look like and overgrown nine-year-old. However, no sooner than they arrived at the kitchens than the pout became a wide, cheesy grin.

"Hey Q, you busy?" Zechs plopped himself on a plastic stool next to what looked like a three-foot-high white traffic bollard. Quatre in his white chef's outfit, straightened up and smiled.

"Not really." came the answer. "Most people ate breakfast about an hour ago. So yes," he rolled his eyes at the older man's expectant smile. "I can make you a pankcake. Sugar and lemon?"

"You know it!" Zechs was almost over the moon. "Oh yeah, the reason I came here-this is Duo Maxwell."

"Hi." Quatre held out a friendly, albeit confused, hand.

"Yeah, I was supposed to be Heero Yuy." shrugged Duo, shaking it.

"Oh. Well, pancake?"

"Uh, yes please."

"Um, Quatre?" Treize put on his best winning smile, but the open-faced blonde turned stony.

"No." He turned around and began making batter. Dropping the act, Treize began pleading.

"Aww, c'mon Quatre. It was only a joke!"

"Nope."

"But-I've been your friend for three years."

"I could have said the same thing to you!"

"I'm sorry?"

"Hmmm..."

"I'm really, really, sorry?"

"..."

"I'm so sorry I'm about to beg like a dog for a pancake?"

"Oh yeah?" Smirking, Quatre turned around. "Go on then." Treize simply glared back.

"I may like your excellent pancakes, Quatre, but manly pride comes above that!" laughing, the blonde boy turned to the hob and began frying.

Three large pancakes and thirty minutes later, the three men heaaded out of the kitchen, stomachs satisfied. Despite himself and all the training he had undergone, Duo found that he had begun to like Treize and Zechs, and had even thrown off any doubts that Quatre had drugged his pancake batter. Just talking to the guy, it didn't seem possible. His musings were cut short by a sudden yell from Zechs,

"Dance lessons!"

"Where?!" Treize dashed back, dragging Duo with him - and there he stayed of his own accord. It seemed that every good looking woman in the compund was flaunting it on the gym floor in really not very much. It has only to say that the song they were dancing to was Christina Aguilera's Dirrty to explain exactly why he was hooked there. Dorothy and Relena came to the forefront, and all three gave a little "mmmm..." then they turned in objection to one another.

"Dude! That's my sister!" hissed Zechs.

"Well that's my cousin!" spluttered Treize back. Duo however, just carried on staring. _How come alliance women never looked this good?_ Unfortunately for them, Noin noticed them, pressed up against the swing-door glass like schoolboys, and sashayed temptingly over to them. She flashed them only one warning grin before she released a high kick into the swing door, knocking all three off their feet as they attampted to jump back.

"Ok! we get the point!" called Zechs back, as Quatre stepped over their bodies.

"Perverts!" he sniffed in mock disdain.

"Just 'cause you're gay!" sniped Treize back, his ego bruised-not to mention his ass. (A/N and a damn fine ass it is!)

"Really?" asked Duo, turning to the head chef.

"Yeah, I'm bi." he shrugged. "Hey, it improves your chances of a date on Saturday night!" He turned and walked away, Zechs and Treize following reluctantly.

"Okay, I'm curious." Duo began, as they rounded the corner past the gym, and entered the living quarters. "How did you know about the party and the Leo plans?"

"We have our sources." Zechs smiled mysteriously. Yet the moment was ruined when said "sources" walked around the corner from her dance class, arm-in-arm with Relena.

"Hilde?" Duo had trouble tightening his jaw enough to say that.

"Mr. Duo!" squeaked the girl, suddenly startled. There was a very uneasy silence.

"But-I thought-you were lost in battle?" Duo glared at Hilde, who emitted a small and extremely awkward giggle.

"Uh..well, yeah...you see..."

"S'cuse us, we need to talk." Relena took control of the situation by grabbing Hilde's shoulders and steering her into a corner, where a whispered but furious conversation ensued.

"I thought he was supposed to be Heero!" Stuttered the panicked double agent.

"I thought you said he didn't know you!" snapped back the rebel leader.

"Heero doesn't!"

"Ah." Relena shrugged, took Hilde by the arm again, flashed her winning smile, and carried on walking.

"I don't believe it..." Duo stared abjectly after her.

"Yeah, but start believing and for god's sake stop drooling!" Treize clapped him on the back.

"I was not DROOLING!!"

"And next on your left is your quarters, Lieutenant Maxwell." Treize indicated the door with a flourish. "I'm afraid everywhere but the kitchen, studio, gym and main lobbies are off limits to you, and even if you're doing nothing particular, you'll be watched. But get some sleep, because I'm sure you must be tired." Zechs opened the door to the bedroom and showed him in. It was clean and airy, if plain and impersonal.

"So, you going to lock me in then?" asked Duo, preparing for the worst.

"Oh, No, not yet, Mr. Maxwell." the enigma in Treize's smile wasn't comforting. "Not yet. Well, Good Morning to you!" they gave a little wave each and pulled the door shut after them.

Deciding he'd make himself comfortable, Duo stretched himself out on the bed. Naturally, the first thought that crossed his mind was "I've got to escape." He began considering every guard he'd seen on the way in. Then there was also the fact that he hadn't seen any exits to the place. However there was usually a pattern, an indication of the exits in the layout of the building. He ran over every schematic he'd ever studied, along with what he knew of the layout of this builing to try and deduce the exits...at least, that was the last thing he remembered doing when he woke up several hours later.

"Shit!" He jumped up and ran to the door, expecting the rebels to have locked it as he slept. Suprisingly, it was still open, and he tentatively made his way into the corridor, expecting at any moment to be stopped, or worse. However, he moved fully out into the corridor and came up against no adversity. Indeed, the corridor seemed completely empty, and he had to think that he might have slept for hours, and woken up in the middle of the night. His digital watch contradicted that, telling him it was six in the evening - "probably when everyone's eating." he thought, overruling quickly the yearning of his salivary glands for one of Quatre's pancakes. With this in mind, he began to sneak down the corridor.

His steps got faster and more confident as he went further on and his path led further upwards. "Always watched? Like Hell!" It was with this thought and a grin on his face that he rounded a corner, started to run again, and-

"Yeurk!" Duo felt a sudden sharp pain on his scalp, and his head suddenly stopped moving. However, despite it's interesting actions, it told the feet and the torso to keep running. This confusion of signals left Duo lying face up on the floor with a bruised arse. At that point, Zech's grinning face appeared above him, one hand displaying a peace sign, and the other holding a limp brown object-his plait. "Ah, well, that would explain it." he thought, still being a little to dazed to move. He heard a strange sort of whooshing noise, and Treize appeared around the corner, bringing an extendable tape measure with him.

"Twenty-eight metres and thrity centimetres. Not bad, Maxwell." By now Duo had recovered enough of his wits to feel outraged. He scowled, and sulked as Treize and Zechs led him back to his quarters. He didn't resist, knowing they were taller, probably quicker than him, without mentioning that he could see the bulk of guns in the back of each of their waistbands. When they got back to his rooms, they locked him in.

"Well, all the more time to think of another escape route..."

"Through the air vents!"  
"Twenty five metres, ninety-eight centimetres..."

"The atruim must have an exit."  
"Twenty-one metres, fifty-seven centimetres..."

"The fire escape in the kitchen!"  
"Fifteen-metres eighty. You're slipping, dude!"

"The MS hatch?"  
"Ten metres twenty-three cm...Not good!"

"The Garbage bins!"  
"_Nine-metres- three-centimetres-and-get-your-wayward-ass-out-of-that-thing-before-it-contracts!_"

"The sewage chute!"  
"Seven metres sixty-eeeuch! Man, is that you?"

"Fuck it, I'll just run!"  
"Three metres seventy-five! Just give up!"

"Yeah...Besides, I'm getting dandruff from the amount of times you've yanked my braid!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

And so it came to an unremarkable night about a fortnight later, and Duo was lying quite calmly on his bed, when a muffled announcement came across the tannoy. It was muffled, Duo realised, as it was the ops tanoy, which did not come into his rooms, for obvious reasons. Yet Duo knew the content of this one anyway. Captive or not, he was still an alliance soldier, and had engaged in his own small espionage, despite the fact that he had no plausible way of communicating with anyone. Anyhow, this was how he knew that this was the result of another operation to kidnap Heero. He also knew the reason why the rebels were so eager to capture Lieutenant-Colonel Heero Yuy. There had been rumours about it in the base. A new sort of mobile suit, a completely new system, which only the very best could handle, and an armour so strong that it could even withstand a blast from Barge's beam cannon. Heero, being Commander J's golden boy, had got to know of it, and supposedly was the only person bar him and Septem who had, even General Chang being excluded, what with his highbrow morals and quick temper being a very real obstruction. Duo, however, believed none of it, nor knew any of this supposed data. He simply rolled over with his book, continued reading, and waited the injection of a disgruntled Heero into his room.

However, things were yet again not going entirely to plan. This time, Alex and Mueller had come in looking sheepish, and placed the sack, though still roughly, on the floor, with no real heart to kick or beat it. Their explanation this time, was simply that "He was in Yuy's room...and it was dark..." And out of the sack rolled and extremely disgruntled (not to mention uncomfortable) Lieutenant Colonel Trowa Barton.

"Just leave!" Relena pointed at the door, and the two stooges, really living up to their nickname this time, were only too happy to obey.

"Why we ever hired those two I don't know!" Zechs shook his head.

"Okay, Mr. Always Right!" sniffed Dorothy, who was equally irritated. "Don't go rubbing it in!" All three glared at the floor a moment, wallowing in their own bad temper, when finally Zechs sighed, and offered a hand to the now thoroughly confused and irritated Trowa.

"Really sorry about this!" he said apologetically, while helping the boy up. Trowa however, pulled away and glared at them.

"You will get nothing from me, so if you want information, you may as well kill me now." He said, in his monotonic voice.

"What if we want something other than information, Mr. Barton?" Dorothy put on the sultry voice again and leaned closer to the officer, who gulped audibly. Relena took this opportunity to steer Dorothy away and out of the door.

"Please excuse my friend!" She called over her shoulder. "She forgot her medication again!" So saying, she and Dorothy exited the room, only to run down the corridor in hysterics once the door was closed again.

"Eh, don't worry, they did that to Duo too, and he's still alive!" Zechs smiled to himself, and beckoned Trowa to follow.

"Duo?" The boy was startled. "Duo's here?"

"Yeah," Zechs put on a disconcerting grin. "You're sharing a room with him!"

"Eh? Trowa? Well, that's unexpected!" Duo sat up and smiled at his colleague.

"Duo!" Trowa's emotionless mask failed him at this point, as the relief that his colleague was neither dead, mangled, tortured or even had a hangnail flooded onto his face. "I - Everyone thought you were dead."

"Nope, although I am dead bored." Duo yawned, stretched, and made room for Trowa on the bed, which the other boy took.

"But - why haven't you tried to escape?" At this, Duo burst out laughing.

"Oh yeah, I've tried more times than I can count, but tried is all it ever came to. The amount of times I've been yanked back or tripped over a well-placed chair was just not funny by the end of it. In fact, I think you've arrived on the week anniversary of my giving up trying." Trowa frowned, sure his colleague was just giving up far too easily, but tactfully changed the subject instead.

"So, uh, what do they want from us?"

"From us? Oh, nothing." Duo leaned back and carried on reading, but he couldn't ignore the increduluous look on Trowa's face.

"You see, we were supposed to be Heero, and they want something from him." Flicking over the page, Duo continued his explaination. "But this lot sent probably the two most idiotic people they had to get him, and that's why they ended up with us."

Trowa stared at the floor for a while, attempting to take what sounded like complete and utter stupidity on an inhuman scale, before eventually rejecting it as just an exaggeration. Next came thoughts of escape.

"Duo, you can't just give up like this. If General Chang had seen you, he would say you were collaborating with the enemy." Trowa fixed the other boy with his glare. Inwardly, Duo groaned. _How did I know you were going to say that?_

"What, by giving up trying to escape an inescapable place?" Duo continued reading. "Besides, I'm being far more use to the Alliance this way that by all the escape routes in the world. Did you really think I'd been idle?" However good the point, Trowa refused to concede it.

"Still your duty is to return to the Alliance and take up your place as a soldier."

"Fine! You try escaping!" exasperated, Duo met Trowa's with a scowl of equal intensity. "You think I like being stuck in here? I just happen to know that by every which route, this place is inescapable."

This, however, did not stop Trowa. That night, he planned his very first escape. "Straight through the kitchens, up the fire escape and out the manhole on the east side. He prepared himself, ready to fight off any guards which came his way, but to his initial confusion, there were none. He got all the way to the back door of the kitchens, the fire escape in sight, when a movement caught his eye. Unfortunately, he didn't have to do anything about it, as at that point, smothing heavy and wooden connected with his shins, sending him flying and causing a good deal of pain into the bargain. Landing on his stomach, Trowa instantly made to get up, but the impact of a weight on his back and the click of a gun prevented him. Suddenly a whooshing sound came closer, and a voice above him said

"Thrity-five metres and seven centimtres. Not bad, you beat Maxwell's first attempt!" The weight removed from his back, Trowa rolled over to find himself facing a purple-haired woman and a grinning strawberry blonde man. The woman was holding a mop, and Trowa reaslied with annoyance that his back was now sopping wet.

"A mop, Noin?" The man questioned, turning to the woman. "Inventive." She shrugged.

"First thing that came to hand." then she turned to Trowa, smiling, and helped him up.

"How did you know-" his disgruntled question was cut off by the other man.

"Ah, you see, that's the thing about the URA - we know everything!" The remark only made Trowa feel all the more irritated as he was marched back to his cell.

"Duo, delivery for you!" Called the man, knocking once before opening the door for Trowa. " Good night now!" And had it been a little lighter, Trowa felt sure he would have seen a deliberate effort to nettle him further.

"Escaping didn't work, huh?" Came Duo's sleepy voice from the darkness. Trowa opted not to say anything, and simply sat down on his bed. "See you met Treize, though."

"Treize?" Trowa frowned. "I don't- Wait, that guy wasn't - _the_ Treize, was he?"

"Mmm-hmmm. Treize Kushrenada."

"But-how? I mean...he's.." Yet Duo had already gone to sleep, leaving Trowa to scheme along on his own.

Trowa, being a little more creative that Duo, thought up many different escape routes. However...

"Beneath a car as it leaves!"

"Twenty-eight metres, thirty-seven centimetres..."

"I'll disguise myself as a soldier...!

"Twenty-six metres, five centimetres..."

"The electrical mains should lead out..."

"Twenty metres, ninety-_Don't touch that!!!_"

"The water mains?"

"Eighteen metres, five centimetres...Trowa, you OK? Trowa? Answer me! Shit! Anyone know mouth-to mouth?"

"Guard changeover times, there's got to be a flaw then..."

"Fifteen metres, seventy-six centimetres...I did kinda think you'd be going for the gas mains next..."

"I'll try stealth..."

"BOO! Ten metres, nine centimetres. You're losing your touch!"

"I'll just walk, shall I?"

"Two metres, fifteen centimetres. Cardiac arrest, electrocution, drowning...any other deaths you'd like to sample?"

"Not really. And how _do_ you always know when to bring that tape measure round?"

"I'm part of the URA, Trowa! We-"

"-know everything. Right."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Okay, to everybody reading – this chapter is just pure comic relief! If you're waiting for some serious plot, it begins next chapter.

To Dot – thank you kindly for the lovely review – and there's more outvoted Treize and Zechs!

To Word dreamer 999 – No, only Treize! Thanks for the review!

Chapter 7

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOD MOOOOOOOOOORRNIIIIIIIIIING.... unfortunately you're not in Vietnam. Nope, you're not even anywhere warm, so it's gonna be cold when you get out of bed. Watch for chilblains now! In fact, I got my first piece of fan mail today...well, I say fan mail...it reads "Dear Treize, will you please shut up and let me sleep! I know you say that this is part of your orders, but it means I have to get up an hour before I need to, and I never get enough sleep!" Aww, diddums! Shall the big, nasty Mr. Treize be quiet and let you sleep a bit longer? All in your special ickle bed, so your special ickle mind can get its sleep? Yeah, right!"

And so life went on, as normally as possible within the headquarters of the URA. Trowa eventually gave up trying to escape, Treize continued to wake everybody up at the crack of dawn, and Quatre still made pancakes. All in all, it was a fairly reasonable time. But, as usual, something came along to change that.

Zechs gazed over at Noin on the other side of the operations room. Howard and Dermail had called a meeting, presumably to announce the beginning of full operation for the fist time in two and a half years. However, the fact that he could be going into mortal combat didn't seem to matter to Zechs at that point. No, all he could see was the sunlight in her hair as the chatted gaily with Une.

"Ask her out and put everyone out of their misery!" Zechs sighed as Treize sat down next to him.

"I can't." He looked away then, avoiding Noin's face and Treize's raised eyebrow.

"Fine. I'll ask her for you." Treize stood, only to be jerked back down into his seat by a sharp tug on his belt strap.

"You crazy?!" spluttered Zechs, panicked.

"No, but I will be if this goes on any longer!" he replied. "_Why _can't you date Noin?"

"Because I - I mean..." Zechs looked at the ground again. "She deserves more than a dead man."

"You never know," Treize grinned. "She might be a closet necrophiliac!"

"I was being serious!" snapped Zechs.

"I know!" replied Treize, still smiling. "Don't you think you should leave it up to her to decide what she wants and what she deserves, though?"

"It's not as easy as that." Zechs sighed, and then began to smirk. "Besides, who are you to lecture me? I see you haven't done anything about Une. I know she likes you." At this, Treize looked at him, startled, and then it was his turn to stare at the ground.

_You can't beat the dead for love, huh?_ Thought Zechs, before turning to face Howard, who was heading the meeting.

"Next week, General Chang, leader of the Alliance's MS division will be giving an address to the entire earth sphere population, declaring the UEA's plans and generally, showing off its dominance." Everyone nodded. They all knew this.

"Now, you all also know that the time for the exposure of the URA to the public is almost upon us." Dermail took over, smiling slightly. "So, we thought it would be a rather powerful gesture should we interrupt General Chang's address with one of our own." There were a few chuckles, and general approval.

"We have a mole in the broadcasting company who are taking charge of the address. General Chang plans to bounce the signal off this company's extensive satellites, and so reach the entire earth sphere. Our man can reprogram the satellites to pick up the signal from a rogue satellite - namely, the one we'll be transmitting to."

"It's risky." Dorothy spoke up, with the voice of the computer geek she was. "They can trace the signal from the satellite, and they might find where we were transmitting from."

"True, but our man says he can fix that. He'll jumble the signal so every second, they'll get a different location. It's a tough bug to crack, but we can do a five minute message with relatively little risk."

Everyone in the room was now nodding, most thinking it a good idea, some already chuckling, picturing the alliance's collective face.

"Well, all that remains is to decide the contents of the speech." Howard was look pleased, until:

"Speech, Howard?" Treize had wrinkled his nose in disdain. "Speeches are just boring." Both Howard and Dermail turned to Treize, curious and exasperated respectively.

"So what do you suggest we do, then?" Impatient, Dermail frowned at the younger man.

"I don't know, but something different. Chang is doing a speech. We should beware of painting ourselves in the same colours as the alliance."

"Good point, but that leaves us with five minutes of blank airtime." Howard pointed out.

"Hey, I've got an idea." Zechs spoke up, and ignoring Treize's exclamation of "Oh my GOD!" continued. "Well, me and Treize play guitar and bass, so, we could interrupt it with a song..."

"Brilliant!" exclaimed Noin, laughing. "Something really stupid and immature. It would suit you two down the ground!" Everyone was laughing now, except Treize.

"It is great...but it's missing something..." Treize frowned in thought. "We need to do something extra..."

"How about this?" Quatre spoke up for the first time, a devilish glint in his angelic blue eyes. Eloquently, but simply, he put forward his idea, addressing the whole room, but with his eyes never leaving Treize. By the time he had finished, everyone was in fits of laughter, except Zechs and Treize.

"_No fucking way!_"

"_Fuck off! NO!_"

"Let's take a vote on this, shall we?" Howard grinned, knowing again, that just like their first vote, this one was fixed. And indeed, it came out the same way, with Zechs and Treize the only ones in opposition.

"Why, Quatre?" Asked a defeated Zechs.

"Consider it revenge on Big Mouth K over there." Quatre sniggered. "Besides, I'd love to watch it!"

"You and your big mouth!" Turning to Treize, Zechs prepared his best scowl. "Look what you've done now!" However, Treize was hardly listening.

"You know, we do need a drummer..." At this, both Zechs and Treize turned around and fixed Quatre with their nastiest grins.

"Q-man! You're it!"

And so preparations got underway for the "Great Interruption" as it was affectionately known around the base. Dorothy finalized the programming details with the mole at the broadcasting company, everyone else prepared for possible attack, should the base be tracked through the satellite, and Quatre, Zechs and Treize got ready for their performance. Trowa and Duo didn't know about the plan, although they knew something was up immediately, when they walked into the kitchens just after the meeting, and the only greeting from Quatre was an irritated "What?"

Yet the plan ticked on without their knowledge, and soon it was Wednesday, the day of the address, and the whole base was tense with excitement, teetering on the brink of the Great Interruption. All day people came and went, filling a small white room with cameras and sound equipment, checking the satellite uplink, and debugging everything it was possible to debug. Finally, the drum kit was set up, along with the guitars and amplifiers, and the microphones.

"Five minutes to airtime, gentlemen!" Called Une from the sound room.

"Everybody know the song?" Asked Treize as they picked up their instruments and performed a final sound check.

"Oh my god, I can't believe I got dragged into this." Quatre groaned from behind the drum kit.

"Me neither." sighed Zechs. "Well, everybody! Remember, big smiles! No matter how humiliated you are, look like you're enjoying yourself!" Noin gave a final thumbs up from behind the camera, and a digital clock in from of them counted down the moments until they were on air.

"Well, here we go..."

"Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen of the earth sphere." Up in the main atrium of the rebel base, a large screen had been erected, so everyone could watch. Even Duo and Trowa sat, wondering what was going on. Of course they had both heard of the Great Interruption, but they were intensely curious as to what it would be. So far, it seemed to be going well. Wufei was immaculately dressed, and the reception was great. "My Name is General Chang Wufei, leader of the Mobile suit unit of the United Earthsphere Alliance. This speech is merely a courtesy to explain our plans over the next twelve months, including mobile suit development and zero-tolerance policy towards terrorists and all others who may-" Suddenly the screen went fuzzy, and when it came back, it was focused on a single hand, fretting the opening bars of Blink 182's "What's My Age Again?"

"I took her out/ It was a Friday night/ I wore cologne, to get the feeling right" At this point the frame cut to one of Treize's face, singing, with his customary grin even wider.

"We started making out/ And she took off my pants, but then I turned on the TV/ And that's about the time..." With the opening chord of the chorus, the camera panned out every quickly, revealing the whole crowd, and making everyone, even those who knew it was coming, gasp in disbelief.

"..She walked away from me!" Apart from their conveniently placed instruments, every single one was totally naked!

"Nobody likes you when you're twenty-three/And You're still more amused by TV shows / What the hell is ADD? /My friends say I should act my age,/What's my age again?"

As Zechs launched into the second verse, Noin had fun with the camera, capturing multiple shots for the naked three.

"And later on, on the drive home/ I called her mom, from a payphone/" There was I sideways shot of Zechs singing, as well as one of Treize larking about with the guitar. Larking nakedly about.

"I said I was the cops/ And your husband's in jail/ the state looks down on sodomy/" Finally just before the second chorus, there was a shot of Quatre from behind. He turned, grinned, not seeming to notice that nigh on thirty billion people could see his naked behind, and then turned back just in time to kick some drum ass for the chorus. At that point, Trowa and Duo looked at each other, and, like ninety-nine percent of the rest of the earthsphere watching, collapsed laughing.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I'm back! Yeah, English coursework and stuffs…

Okay, so another fairly slow chapter, but the pace DOES pick up! I promise! There's quite a lot of fluff, minimal plot, but it's cute.

Tricia: Thank you! Please keep reading!

Dot: Yeah, it was fairly unrealistic, wasn't it? But it had to be done. Besides which, the public will _have_ to take them seriously with what they do next, which is – but no. That's next chapter!

So, disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing, never will, and the pretty lyrics are from the song "She will be loved" by Maroon 5.

Chapter 8

"Morning Sally." Catherine looked peaked and tired. She had had little sleep since her brother's disappearance, and continued to cry in worry during the nights. Now, her pallor had yet another reason. She had to deliver reports to General Chang, and things weren't looking good.

"Hello Cathy." Sally Po smiled from behind her long and loose hair, her eyes trying to hide the pity for Cathy's disheveled appearance.

"Erm...how is General Chang doing?" Cathy looked nervously into the office around the corner.

"Not good." Sally grimaced. "Why? You don't have reports for him, do you?" Cathy nodded, holding out the manila files.

"They're bad." Cathy flinched in anticipation of the General's anger.

"Uh, I think it's better if you let me handle them." Sally took the files. "Stand down awhile, and I'll relay your orders to you." Cathy nodded, and set off sharpish down the corridors.

_Good move! _thought Sally, as merely flicking through the file, she knew the interruption of the night before was still completely unsolved. Gathering her nerves, Sally knocked on the General's door, and after a moment, opened the door and walked in.

"Mr. Wufei?" She called.

"If it's not good, Sally, I don't want to hear it!" came the snarl from beyond the desk.

"I'm sorry sir, I'll just leave the reports here then." backing away, Sally placed them on top of a filing cabinet and tried to run as fast as possible.

"How, Sally?" she gulped, and turned. "How could I be shown as so incompetent, so weak!" His voice rose, and Sally could see his fists clench. "This shall not go unavenged!" Wufei stood then, and his Asian brow held a fierce scowl. "I will hunt them down! Every last one! They have brought war on themselves! I-" Suddenly, he froze, making Sally jump more than his rant. And then, slowly, slowly, and not at all comfortingly, he laughed. It was cruel, cold, but it seemed to please him.

"Ah, I have lacked a challenge in too long!" He sighed, a terrible smile still on his lips. "Tell the troops to stand down. Defend the base. Stop searching for the rebels, and prepare for attack. But attempt to be subtle."

"Sir?" Replied Sally, now both frightened and thoroughly confused.

"I don't need to declare war. They did. And they'll come to us."

From the morning after, Treize, Zechs and Quatre were heroes of the rebel cause. Everyone hailed them in the corridors, those who had regarded them as lightweights now respected them, and Duo and Trowa cracked up whenever they walked into the room. Seeing them both enter the kitchen trying to contain their sniggers, Quatre rolled his eyes, and reached to get some spare pancake batter out of the fridge.

"Hey Q, don't worry about the pancakes." The gleam in Duo's eye gave away his good pretences. "I _Butt_ you get tired of cooking them!" and both started laughing again.

"I'm sorry!" smiled Trowa, looking a little sheepish "I guess that's tired now." Quatre sighed and shook is head in mock sufferance, and then smiled back.

"You know, you should smile more." He replied. "It makes your eyes sparkle."

"Thank you." Trowa coloured, but remained happy, an oddly light feeling in the pit of his stomach, as the head chef turned away to hide his own blush.

"Yo, what'cha doing out here?" At the sound of his friend's voice, Treize clutched Leia's locket in his hand, to hide it from Zechs's view.

"Trying to get away from the screaming fangirls." He turned and grinned as Zechs came and sat next to him, out in the dappled light beneath the forest canopy.

"Don't get impatient on me now, Treize." Zechs smiled, nodding to the locket in his hand. "We'll both get the Alliance, in our own time."

"Yeah..." Treize gazed off again into the distance. "I'm just worried."

"Agreed. It hasn't exactly gone to plan so far, has it?" Snorted Zechs.

"What do we do with Trowa and Duo?" Treize broke his stare into the leaves and turned to face Zechs. "I mean, I like them...but we can't keep them here indefinitely, and they are still Alliance soldiers."

"The only options are to keep them captive, or release them. There is always the hostage option..."

"No. Killing them would cause more problems than it would solve. Keeping them captive risks their espionage and eventual escapes, and releasing them risks their betraying us, if they know more than we think they do."

"Mmmmm. So. Decision time."

"I don't know. If he has cute buns, sixteen isn't too young!" Noin giggled girlishly, giving away her age. Une snorted in reply, as they watched Duo from the other side of the dining hall.

"Cute buns he has indeed." sniggered Une. "Although his lanky friend has the most amazing eyes."

"Oh, Trowa Barton!" pronounced Noin melodramatically. "We drown in the green seas of your eyes!" She had just enough time to swoon before both broke out in peals of laughter.

"Hey, Noin." Zechs came up behind them both. "And you, Une, we need a quick referendum in the operations room."

"Okay!" Noin smiled at Zechs, giving her best grin. Heart beating, Zechs tried to keep the familiar flush from his face. "What?" She asked, realising he had been staring at her.

"Oh, nothing." He looked away, embarrassed. "I just like your smile, that's all."

"Aww, you're so cute!" leaning forward, Noin tweaked his cheek. "I'll see you both up there!" As she walked of, Zechs sighed in the peculiar manner only the lovelorn can.

"She has no idea, does she?" Zechs turned to Une, his only female confidante.

"None at all." Replied Une, with a conciliatory pat on the back, before she ran off after Noin.

And so it was decided. Trowa and Duo were to return to the Alliance, a tactical decision after the meeting of that day. This way, they would release them with minimal information about the URA, and uphold a fair image in the public eye a the same time. Also, it would coincide with one of their first operations, a sabotage attack on a large power plant, owned exclusively by the Alliance.

"So you're leaving, then." It was a statement rather than a question. Quatre's eyes were afraid and round as he looked up at the taller boy. Somehow, they made Trowa want to cry, and he turned away, unwilling to show his weakness.

"_It's not always rainbows and butterflies, it's compromise that moves us along/My heart is full and my door's always open, you can come anytime you want."_

"Yeah. I've got to go back to the Alliance. I think we leave tomorrow."

"I understand." Those shimmering blue eyes were now downcast, as Quatre turned away from Trowa and tried to seem busy.

"I guess-" Turning abruptly back, Quatre faced Trowa again. "I guess, maybe...when this is all over...the war I mean - I suppose, maybe we could meet again?"

"_I don't mind spending every day/Out on your corner in the pouring rain /Look for the girl with the broken smile/ask her if she wants to stay awhile"._

_When the war is over..._ Trowa had never known existence without war. It had always been there, always been the thing that defined his life. But somehow...if a meeting with Quatre were to end his war...maybe it wouldn't be so bad, that change.

"Yes. Yeah, I think we should." Trowa smiled shyly, in response to the other boy's beam. "One day, when the war is over..."

"We'll meet again." Quatre turned away for a final time, smiling this time.

"_And she will be loved/ She will be loved..."_

"Duo! DUO! Wait!" Duo turned from the jeep that was to take time away, and back to the Alliance, to see Hilde, his traitorous ex-colleague.

"I just...wanted to say, I'm sorry." She shifted uncomfortably, before looking him in the eye. "I know you trusted me...but...I had to do what I did. I'm really sorry for betraying your trust." She looked between him and the floor, evidently deeply ashamed.

"Forget about it." Duo smiled sincerely. "Truth be told, I'm beginning to understand why you did." Blushing and relieved, Hilde grinned, happy to be forgiven, before extracting something from her pocket, and passing it to him. Again, she had a good deal of trouble meeting his eye. Opening his hand, Duo found that she had given him her Alliance dog-tags.

"I don't know." She muttered, scuffing the ground with her shoe. "Just to remember me by, I guess."

"Good-bye, Hilde." A sad, soft expression in his eyes, Duo took one last look at her.

"Good-bye Duo." She whispered in reply, choking up as he climbed into the van.

"_She will be loved/ And she will be loved...Please don't try so hard to say good-bye..."_


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Okay, real plot now! I apologise if this isn't quite up to scratch, I'm not very good at writing action. Either way, on with the plot!

Dot: Thank you! Most of the answers to your questions should be found in this next chapter. Cliffhangers? You ain't seen nothin' yet!

Chapter 9

Treize surveyed the darkening night with apprehension. Thunderheads loomed on the horizon, their shadows casting clawed fingers onto the land below. Dying, the sunset flared blood-red behind the black of the clouds, until it faded, giving way to black night. Preparations still carried on behind him, the prone bodies of Duo and Trowa, after having been doped, were brought out on stretchers by the ground team. The jeeps were parked, and stationed with a few men, assigned to guard them. A sudden metallic whirr distracted Treize from his reverie. The mobile suits were deployed from their carry lorry.

"So." He muttered, his stomach still tight. "Showtime."

"Red section, this is Zechs, repeat, this is Zechs. Call in."

"Red two, repeat, this is red two. All ready!"

"Red three, red three, ready to go."

"Red four, repeat, red four, all's good."

"Yellow section, this is Treize. Call in."

"Yellow two, repeat, yellow two, right here."

"Yellow three, Yellow three, right behind ya!"

"Yellow four, repeat, yellow four. Ready to rock and roll!"

"Yellow one, this is Blue one. Do you read?"

"Got you loud and clear, Noin."  
"Everyone's here. Blue section ready to go."

"Thank you Noin."

"Une here. Ground team ready."

"Thanks."

"Yellow One, yellow one, this is Pink one."

"How's it going Relena?"

"Great. Pink Section ready to go. Why'd I get pink?"

"Consider it a perk of your first control."

"Oh, shut up, Kushrenada. Out."

The radio fizzled for a final time, as the clock neared thirty seconds of ops start, and he heard Dororthy, all the way back at base, calling.

"Yellow leader, this is base. Report on situation."  
"Everything's in order down here, base."

"Okay! All sections are a-go in five, four, three, two, one...go, go, go!" With that, sixteen Aries slid smoothly off the ground and into the cloudy night sky. Fifteen people ran silently through the grass below them, all towards the scantily lit power station in front of them. The URA's war had officially begun.

"HAAH!" Zechs dealt with the last of the customary guard. There had only been three MS on patrol, allowing for a quick access to the main computer for the ground team. A volley of gunfire provided the only resistance from the Alliance ground staff at the generator compound, and he sighed a little as his team got safely in. The radio sizzled, and Treize's voice came in for a customary call in.

"East side secure. Ground leaders, report."

"Blue one. West side of compound secure."

"Pink one. North side secure. No casualties." Zechs breathed out, without even realising he had been holding it. He had been terrified of something happening to his sister. True, this wasn't expected to be a dangerous job, and she was a promising new section leader, but...

"Jeez, I can't help it, she's my baby sister!"

"Yo, Zechsy. Come in. See anything?" It was a moment before Zechs remembered that he hadn't reported back to Treize.

"No, South side secure." he said quickly. "Red section okay." They waited a while longer, Zechs growing more and more disconcerted at the silence. Surely there must be more resistance? There must be something else! Why wasn't the ground team reporting back? They must have reached the computer room by now! They knew they had to disable the alarm quickly, so as not to raise suspicions, or at least throw up doubt with any Alliance members receiving it. It was only then that the MS teams could set about destroying the main generator. For what seemed like an age, he sat there, all these questions and more running through his mind, until finally:

"Ground team here. Computer room is secure, Duo and Trowa dropped off. Go ahead, MS team."" Exhaling again as Treize thanked Une, who was heading the ground team.

"All sections, proceed to the East side Generator. All is clea - what the - I - Ohh, _fuck..._"

"Treize?" Zechs leaned to his radio, suddenly anxious again. "What's up?" Getting no reply, Zechs sped over to the east side of the building. As he cleared the wall, and looked over the tarmac towards the generator, he saw Treize's Aries, standing stock-still. And then, as lightning flashed behind him, and rain began, like the insistent drum of an executioner, he saw what was wrong. Row after row of Alliance mobile suits stood on that stretch of tarmac. The final row was just coming into vision, and then Zechs suddenly made sense of it. They were coming _through_ the tarmac. The MS hangar for this base must be below ground. All of which meant there were now thirty machines between the rebels and the generator. It was two-to one. _But how - why -what...? _Like spidery fingers creeping down his back, the frosty thought revealed itself to Zechs, just as Treize said it.

"They knew we were coming..."

So they stood, as the storm began to break around them, the rebel side quailing, feeling their advantage slipping away, the Alliance gaining confidence, knowing they had upset the rebel's plans. But yet it stood, even as the wind picked up, neither side daring to make the first move. Each second lasted ten thousand years, and their heartbeats were the very pulse of the earth, but yet none moved. Until suddenly, a burst of gunfire came from the control building behind the rebels.

"Oh SHIT!" Une's voice sounded frantic even through the tinny distortion of the radio. "Ground team, Pull out, pull out!"

"Une!" Treize exclaimed, his involuntary twist backwards causing his suit to move as well. At the first hint of movement, every other suit on the field jumped into action as well, throwing each of the sixteen rebels suits into a hugely outnumbered hell.

The shriek of metal wrenching made Zechs flinch, and the alliance suit in front of him crashed to the ground, in pieces. About three Alliance suits had fallen, compared with at least four of the rebels. One of his own men had gone down, but had crawled out and run like hell for the building, and another of Pink section went down in flames. With guilty relief, he noticed it didn't bear the pennant of leader. Relena was safe.

Yet his relief was short-lived, as another Alliance suit launched at him, its beam sabre raised. Immediately, Zechs raised his own sabre and made to counter it, but the sheer force of the blow shocked him. Staggering, Zechs threw off the other pilot, barely managing to keep it together. Again, the other pilot attacked with frightening speed and agility, but Zechs was ready this time. He countered neatly, slashing at the other pilot in reply. He missed, but as he passed by, he saw a painting on the left arm of the suit - "01". This was the elusive Heero Yuy.

"Relena. Une is going to need some air support." Take what's left of Pink section and help her out." Zechs spoke calmly into the radio, not willing to express the worry he felt so keenly.

"But Zechs!" Relena pulled away from a struggle, surprised. "You need everyone you can here!"

"Just split, okay!" Zechs yelled, hoarsely. "GO!" It was with relief that he saw her finish the battle she had started and fly off, two other suits in tow, towards the building. And it was with his own lightning fury that he threw himself into the battle once more. Heero Yuy or no Heero Yuy, he wasn't going down without a fight.

"Going somewhere, rebel?" Treize's attention snapped back to the carnage on the tarmac. Six Rebel machines had gone down in all, one from Pink, one from blue, and two each from his and Zechs's sections. He had turned to see the departure of Pink section, his internal emotions pulling him towards following. With Une's last scream through the radio ringing in his ears, he turned back to the Alliance suit in front of him. It bore the colours of Colonel. _The big guns, huh?_ He thought fleetingly as they launched into battle. The pilot of the other machine, while not the most skillful adversary he'd ever fought, had to be up there in his count of the most vicious. Every move was aimed to kill, every thrust had the pilot's whole power behind it, and between this and his own exertions trying to beat them, Treize soon broke a sweat. In and out, they dodged, weaving and well matched, but gradually, the rebel leader got the upper hand, attacking more frequently, defending with ease, until finally, luck or skill came to Treize's aid, and he sliced the sabre arm from the Alliance Aries.

"Step down!" He called. "You're disabled." However sensible his words, the Alliance colonel seemed very unwilling to listen. The MS planted its feet squarely, and Treize was sure the pilot would have yelled something defiant if another voice hadn't stepped in.

"Do as he says, Sally." The voice was cultured, soft spoken, and, when it continued, infinitely contemptuous. "I suppose you must be the illustrious Treize Kushrenada." Over the flaming remains of an Alliance suit, Treize saw the suit from which this comment had issued. It then bowed mockingly, and introduced itself. But Treize wasn't listening. He already knew who was in that suit, for, on the crest of the MS suit, was a red and gold pennant that depicted a Chinese dragon. Facing him was the one man in the world Treize wanted dead.

Facing him was General Chang Wufei.


End file.
